1 Down, 15 To Go! Who's Got The Paint Remover?

It took all of two weeks for the $10,000 parking kiosk on Warren near 8th to be tagged, possibly by a mouse.  I can't help but wonder how long it will take someone from the city to remove that graffiti -- if they even bother to, that is. (Who, if anyone, has been assigned to handle kiosk graffiti removal?)  And which paint will fade away soonest, the white circle that Parking Captain David Miller sprayed on the sidewalk in preparation of his kiosk or the new white graffiti on his kiosk?  Only time will tell.  

I'm thinking that the city had to install kiosks so that people parking downtown would have the choice to pay for their space with cash or a credit card.  But what if a kiosk is out of service?  How will a parking enforcer know not to ticket a car or cars whose owner(s) had no phone, couldn't get the nearest kiosk to work (which might be across the street and a half or full block away), and just gave up on paying?  The answer is they can't know, so they'll just ticket and let the owner(s) deal with the consequences. It's not their problem. Seems fair to me!  Sounds GREAT!

That may have been the exact circumstance early this afternoon in the 700 block of Warren when I came across an out-of-service kiosk and a ticketed car adjacent to it.  The kiosk screen read:  Pay Station Printer Error.   Enforcers probably don't even care (or check to see) if the kiosks are or aren't working since it doesn't affect their job. (Of course, it doesn't help that enforcers can't fix the kiosks.)  But at least in the old days (like last year) when parking enforcers came across an out of service meter, they knew not to ticket the car in that space.  Now, in Hudson's new and improved parking era, as I saw today, there can be a ticketed (or ticketable) car parked inches from an inoperable kiosk.  Try to parse that one.

The new paid parking system has not made things easier for anyone, including the enforcers.  Parking Captain David Miller keeps saying it's GREAT, though!  Why would we expect him to say anything differently?  He doesn't have to pay for parking downtown, does he?  He doesn't have to wonder how to pay for a parking space and worry about getting a ticket if a kiosk isn't working, does he? 

Oh, by the way, today the PAY STATION outside the Union Street parking lot was also OUT OF SERVICE due to a PRINTER ERROR!  Who's got the receipt paper and how much does each roll cost us?